Political Disengagement Soars To New Levels, Says Hansard Society Study

Voters have been turned off politics in droves due to the coalition, according to a damning new study.

This considerable disillusionment has affected all the parties, with less than half of them saying they would be certain to vote in a General Election. This level of voting interest is the lowest since records began.

Over a fifth (22%) of those who voted Liberal Democrat two years ago are no longer interested in politics. However, one in ten (8%) of Conservative voters say they are turned off politics. 16% of voters say they are "absolutely certain" not to vote if an election happened tomorrow.

MPs debates in Westminster are viewed as increasingly irrelevant to voters' concerns. Only half of the pubic (49%) say that issues debated and decided in Parliament have relevance to their own lives. Less than four in ten (38%) believe that the government is held to account by Parliament.

According to the study, voters have become increasingly sceptical of community engagement. In bad news for the Prime Minister's flagship "Big Society" programme, only two-fifths (38%) of people are interested in decision-making at a local level. Also, there has been a decrease in the number of voters who sign petitions, to just 27% - the lowest level ever recorded.